uh, hi. so this is a back story for my regular story, so possible spoilers, and maybe even a warning of swears. it should be pretty good just as a standalone oneshot, for those of you who dont read light and dark. could this be considered advertizement? quite possibly. oh well, read on!
He was sort of sad for this kid. She'd do great things, yes, but she'd also grow up an orphan. She'd never know she was royalty until she died and he made her one of his kind. She'd have to grow up herself, no interference from him. But her parents would surely make him swear to keep her safe. And he couldn't go back on a promise like that. Maybe he should take her in the middle of the night? No, he wouldn't do that. Kidnapping an adult-or even a teenager-at night was ok, but a tiny, defenseless baby? No.
"Who's goin' there!?" shouted a guard.
"A friend of the king's." he turned and looked at the guard. That was all it took for them to run away. His eyes were indeed terrifying. The giant doors banged on the walls as he shoved them open and marched in. The king had been in what looked to be a conference.
"Leave us." He said to the officials around him. As they cleared out, he gave herobrine a hug (brohugs) "my friend, where have you been?" it was rather sobering to hear him so excited to see herobrine.
"In the nether, like I always am. But I didn't come here to socialize." The king nodded, and invited herobrine to sit. He did, and the king sat as well.
"I hear you have a daughter? And a son?" king Lawrence grinned. He had always wanted a family, and here he had one.
"How did you get the word?"
"My brother told me. I need to see them, if you don't mind."
"Of course! I'm sure they wouldn't mind meeting uncle hero." He was their uncle?
"You told them I was their uncle?" he nodded.
"I consider you my blood brother, hero. They should consider you their uncle." He grinned. He'd always wanted a family too. That was one thing that kept the two of them friends in the last war of realms. But that was another story. Lawrence led herobrine behind the throne, through a maze of halls and rooms of all sizes, until they reached a rather small room, in which there was a fireplace, and a young kid practicing with a wooden sword. He whirled around, and stopped dead when he saw his father.
"Omari, what are you doing? I told you to practice outside." He wasn't mad. More like amused.
"It's cold out there dad! I don't wanna go fight bad guys in the cold!" he had this voice that sounded sort of like a little girl's. He'd grow into a better one, but until then…
"Fine. Just don't break anything. Where's your sister?" Omari looked like he'd just fixed a dam at the last minute.
"In her room, with mom. Who's he?" Omari looked at herobrine.
"This is your uncle hero. Remember I told you about him?" recognition flared behind Omari's eyes. He nodded quickly and waved at hero. He was nervous. Kids were hilarious.
The baby was asleep when hero first saw her. She was all wrapped up in her mother's arms, drooling. This was the one, he could tell at a glance. After some short conversation, the three left the room, to have a talk in the hall. Here was the part he'd been dreading.
"Do you trust me Lawrence?" he nodded. "I need you to do me a massive favor. You'll probably hate me, but I need to take your daughter."
"WHAT. Why would you need to do that?!"
"Lawrence, please quit shouting. You'll wake her." his wife said quietly. She was dealing with this much better than he was.
"I can't explain why. It's too difficult, and honestly, I don't know. Fate hasn't told me anything except that your daughter will someday save the world and needs to grow up somewhere else." after more shouting, crying, arguing and death threats, the king and queen finally gave up and let hero take Lydia.
"Will she know of us?" he looked slowly in the queen's eyes. He couldn't lie here, much as it pained hit to speak the truth.
"No." and he teleported away with the child before he would have to deal with more screaming.
The nether was comfortable to him this time of night. Lidia didn't seem to like it, but she wouldn't be here long. After a few hours, he came up with a new name for hr. she couldn't be called Lydia, someone would know. He scribbled it down, and then put it in her pocket.
"Come on Astrix. Time to go." He muttered as he picked her up and teleported to Ferring. He'd picked out an orphanage ages ago. It was the middle of the night. How stereotypical. He knocked on the door, and left Astrix on the step. The door opened a few minutes later, and a sleepy face poked out. Then Astrix was taken in. good. He went back to the nether.
"ASTRIX. Where the nether are my socks!" she rolled out of bed, pulled the bundle of semi-stolen clothes from under her bed, and then chucked the stinky socks at Jeff's face. He still owed her money, but he was also working, and probably needed to wear shoes. If he was dead because of some slip up in the mines, how would he pay her? She sat up and looked at the room. It was tiny, and full of beds. The smallest and only orphanage in the city. She hauled herself up, and then put on her jacket. She slept in her clothes, mostly. Didn't want to have to change in the frigid air. Walking out of the building, she waved at their caretaker. The woman didn't like when they went to get jobs so young, but admitted she had no money to support them. So they did it themselves in the mines. If you lied to the right person, you could get into the iron Inc mines as a day worker. She pulled a stone pick out of the bushes in front of the building and continued walking to the square where they called for miners. She raised he pick, signed her name-Astrix- and waited with the others to go in. when they were allowed, the group flooded the cave entrance.
She peeled off and took a little cave opening that she knew led to a chasm. She'd been there before, and knew there were lots of materials down there. When she was about halfway to the chasm, she found that a few torches had burned out. Oh boy. A zombie loomed out of the dark fog, and she swung her pick around and brought it through his face. And it didn't kill him. The next slice did. It came from a sword on the gloom. There was Jeff, the crafting extraordinaire with an iron sword. She plonked down a torch and took the sword Jeff held out to her.
"You are brilliant, Y'know."
"I know it. Do I still owe you money?"
"So long as I can keep this."
"All yours." She led him to the chasm, and then jumped right into the pool of water down at the bottom.
"The nether are you doing? Do you have a death wish!" he shouted down. She grinned.
"YOUR SUCH A WUSS, JEFF" that got him. Jeff steeled his nerves, and then leapt off the edge, screaming like a girl.
"I could have DIED. So could you, actually." She chuckled, crawling out of the water.
"Then why'd you jump?"
"I was outvoted." She laughed and walked into the gloom of a nearby cave, a torch in one hand, and her pick in the other. There was a skeleton ahead. And there was an inanimate one near it. She jumped forwards and killed it with two very unprofessional hits from her sword. She'd need to practice with that.
"How long you think he's been down here?" Jeff asked, pointing at the skeleton.
"Long enough not to ever need his little collection here. Gimme a hand, Jeff" she was up to her elbow in the dead miner's bag. He had a bunch of stuff when he died. Jeff picked up his sword-a proper golden one- and examined it.
"This thing is ancient. They don't do anything like this thing on the hilt anymore."
"cool." She picked up one of the two leather jackets. Why did he have two? But it fit her perfectly, and she was cold, so why not? She could always leave it when she left again. After they collected all the guy's stuff, they gave him a semi proper burial. Just a hole in the cave floor with a sign on it. 'Here lies a nameless minor'.
"You spelled miner wrong." Jeff was a bit OCD, so she fixed it before he did. After a quick moment of silence, the two continued deeper into the cave. After some mind numbing strip-mining, they left for the surface. And there was no easy way out. Wonderful. They tried mining upwards, and eventually got to a larger cavern, but it seemed deserted. Jeff was starting to freak out.
"Astrix, we're gonna be down here for the rest of our lives. And that won't even be long!" he was going into an all out anxiety attack. She rolled her eyes and told him to not think about it.
"THAT'S NOT HELPING!" he shouted. She shouted back.
"NEITHER IS THAT!" he shut up for a minute. "Now give me a hand. The worst that'll happen is that we get out a bit late. Now c'mon" she lit a torch, shoved it into the wall, and went into a cave that sloped upwards. Jeff followed nervously. After a while, the cave went downwards again. She continued to follow it, hoping it would either lead to diamonds or to the surface eventually. The diamonds were found, and eventually, a ceiling of gravel. She held a hand out and stopped Jeff. Then she thought for a moment.
"Astrix, what is this?"
"gravel…"
"I can see the-AAAAAAHHHHH" Jeff screamed when Astrix punched a wall. The gravel fell in on itself for several minutes. There was sunlight beyond it. She looked at Jeff triumphantly.
"You are brilliant, Y'know that?" he said.
"D'you need a new pair of pants?" she asked.
"Yes. Now c'mon." he stacked up dirt until he was at on the surface. She did the same. Then she covered the entrance with dirt.
"Why..."Jeff asked.
"Don't want anyone falling in. I'd feel bad." He muttered something and looked around. They were in a forest.
"Uhhh…" he looked at her like she'd know where to go. She shrugged. She had no idea.
"I can't even see the smoke signal…" the sun was going down. She lit a torch and walked in a random direction.
"Where are you going?" he asked nervously.
"…this way. Coming?" he nodded franticly and followed her closely. Eventually they ended up digging a hole and sleeping in that. The next morning, they somehow found their way out of the woods, into a snowy plain.
"Close to home?"
"maybe." She walked towards what she'd determined was east. After some time, they saw the city in the distance.
"OH THANK NOTCH!" Jeff fell to his knees there and began thanking the god. Astrix muttered quick thanks too. She'd been as nervous as he had; she'd just utilized it better than he did. When he finished, they walked into the city, found their way back to the orphanage, and were almost immediately smothered in a hug.
"These are them?" that wasn't Miss Hutchinson's voice. An officer was standing in the lobby, looking very official.
"Yes. And they're not eighteen!" what was even going on here?
"No. her records say twenty. Pack up your things, kids." oh. They'd checked the records. She'd changed it to a few years older than she was, as she couldn't get a job if she was eleven. Wordlessly, she walked to her bunk, grabbed her bag, and threw her bundle of stolen clothes to the youngest kid. He caught it quietly, and watched as she left.
The officer saw her out. She waved, and left. And it started to rain, of course. Because being homeless wasn't bad enough. After wandering around for a while, she found a park bench to sleep on. She was glad she'd kept the jacket. It helped quite a bit, seeing as Ferring was so far north it snowed almost nightly nowadays. And snow it did. She could care less at the moment, however. She was just tired.
That night, of course she was woken by a guard.
"You need to go home, kid. Its late." He was all wrapped up in a fur coat, as it was snowing.
"Cant I just sleep here tonight?" he rolled his eyes.
"Can't do that, kid. Up you get." She stood for his sanity's sake. "Where d'you lives, kid?"
"Astrix, and as of today, nowhere. Can I go back to sleep now?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Nowhere? Well c'mon; the orphanage'll let ya stay the night."
"Just came from there. Got kicked out because they say I'm too old."
"Ah? Well then you'll have to leave the city. Get a room in the slums or something." she decided not to tell him she was broke. It'd just make this easier. He even walked her out of the gates. To the most expensive inn in the slums. The bugger had little concept of money, didn't he? She went in and humored him anyways. It was deserted inside. The barkeep looked up from a book and asked what she needed.
"Eh. A place to wait till the guy outside walks off. I won't be long." he sighed and went back to his book. A few minutes later, she walked back into the cold air. After a while, she found a little alley where a fireplace blocked the end of it. It was a little warmer than the rest of the place. She went back to sleep wrapped up in her jacket as best she could.
She woke up to find she almost couldn't feel her toes. Someone had stolen her boots. Those were her only shoes. Brilliant. She pulled her toes to her hands to find they were as cold as ice. She stuck them against the fireplace, and sat there for a bit. Until she could feel them a little. Then she got up, a bit wobbly, and walked to the street. It was early morning, no one about, no shops open. And a leftover chill in the air from the night before. Eventually she found the market type area. She got a little job hauling boxes around, and after a while, had a piece of bread. That night, she went back to the alley to sleep. A shadow shifted slightly. A shadow with her shoes. Without a second thought, she punched it in what she assumed to be the face. She assumed correctly. The man grunted and swung back. She ducked and slammed her shoulder into his gut. He doubled over, and she brought up her knee. He fell on his face.
"What'd you do that for?" he sounded like one of the nobles. Weird.
"Gimme back my shoes." He grinned.
"So you're the kid that slept here last night. You have extraordinarily sized feet, Y'know." He sat up and began to take off her shoes. He smelled like a bar. "Names Epsilon. You?"
"Astrix. What'd you mean by kid? You're a kid, Looks like."
"Thirteen, actually. I'm gonna turn fourteen in a month, actually." He handed over her shoes. He had socks, the lucky bastard.
"So you're still a kid."
"Older than you, probably. How old are you anyways?"
"I aint saying." She pulled on the shoes, stood, and walked away.
"Where're you going? Aww, c'mon, I'm lonely over here"
"Not a damn is being given, dude" she said over her shoulder. She went to find some other alley to sleep in. she found one with a dumpster, and curled up behind it. She woke up to a skeleton staring at her quietly. Carefully, she grabbed her sword, then launched forwards with it. The skeleton fell, and she knocked it's skull off. It crumbled to ash, except the head. She scooped that up, and put it down as a footrest. Then she sat up, trying to stay awake. She failed.
The morning introduced a cold, sleeting snow. The kind that stings your eyes with every gust of wind, and melts in your hair and drips down your neck. Astrix woke to such a feeling. She groaned, and stood up, the skull forgotten now. She found her way back to the market and saw they were collecting wood for the smoke signal. She joined in with her fists. Not incredibly effective, but she also wanted to get rid of some of this growing anger. Why did they have to kick her out? Why didn't she get to even stay in the city? Now this was her best job, and it was punching wood. She almost hated her life. Almost.
When she had enough, she brought it up the side of the mountain, and got an iron bar for the whole lot. While the rest wandered home, she stayed by the fire. It was nice and warm, and she didn't really want to deal with the weather right now.
"Whatchu doin here kid? Go home or somethin'" said a raspy voice. She found its owner to be an old man with a beard almost to the floor. "Can't have the adolescents wandering all over the place, can we?"
"Sorry, sir. It's just really cold out there, and I wouldn't be going inside anytime soon." he was quiet for a moment. She almost left.
"I could always use a hand around here. Got any buddies?"
"Just myself. Why?"
"Humph. Fine. Go get the rest of the load. You get to watch this fire all night."
"Is that a job offer?"
"It's an order. Now go!" she went, and brought in the rest of the logs. There was an old wicker chair that he was in, so she sat in a corner and closed her eyes. When he shook her awake, it was nearly dark.
"Keep an eye on that fire, now. If it goes out, you'll be hanged." She nodded. She doubted she'd be killed, but it wouldn't be good if it went out. Supposedly, this thing was some beacon of magic. If it went out, apparently, bad things would happen. She wasn't feeling too magical, though. More lie lucky she got to stay by a fire tonight. The city looked great from up here. It seemed tiny and almost insignificant this high in the mountains.
When the morning came, the fire was still going strong. The old man shooed hr out, saying she couldn't work here. That was a one time thing. She rolled her eyes. He could have worded that better. Oh well. She didn't have much of anything to do today, so she went and found a deserted area of forest, and began practicing worth her sword. The imaginary enemies fell like stones in a mine. Oh nether. She should be in the mines today. She shoved the sword in her pack, and then raced at top speed to get into the city. She made it just in time to be the last person to sign up to go in.
DID I JUST DO THAT? I THINK I DID JUST DO THAT.
anyways, if you spot anything that makes no sense whatsoever, yell at me in a review or something. uh, what else. oh yeah. remember the other longest chapter?
THIS IS OVER THREE THOUSAND WORDS, BIOTCH
sorry. I had to.I'm overjoyed with the length of this thing. reviews nao? sure
baileyice207: so I'm doin it rite? good. And well... you've seen, but anyways
YOU SHOULD ALWAYS FEAR A SADISTIC WRITING MACHINE SUCH AS MYSELF! BWAHAHAHAHAAAA!
ultistar: I know dat feel.
kitcat from the sky: of what little I gleaned from that, yeah, but its ok, because at least she told me her account name so I can spam her.
crazykats430: Its good. I've bee teaching myself purple magic, so I imagine I could defend myself.*grins evilly at haze*
I feel like I was gonna say something else. i dont remember.
wait, yes I do. gonna be flying to visit relatives, so may not update till I get back. except for tomorrow. tomorrow ima try and post dalkirs story. that one is fun! its why I didn't put it up now. also, uh, several characters submitted to light and dark ended up here(three, methinks), so yeah.
arrivederci, amicos!